Circular No. 4129 Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. TWX 710-320-6842 ASTROGRAM CAM Telephone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 PROBABLE SUNGRAZING COMETS N. R. Sheeley, Jr., Naval Research Laboratory, reports observations of two more probable sungrazing comets (cf. IAUC 3640, 3718, 3719) in the coronagraphic data from the P78-1 SOLWIND satellite. R. Howard, M. Koomen and D. Michels were also involved with these observations of what are tentatively called SOLWIND 4 and 5, and the Central Bureau in fact received the provisional data below some months before the deliberate destruction of the satellite on Sept. 13. Improved positions are anticipated for all five objects. The apparent heliocentric separation F (solar radii) and position angle O have been converted to R.A. and Decl. by the undersigned. SOLWIND 4 UT F O R.A. (1950.0) Decl. 1981 Nov. 3.999 10.5 205.0 14 29.5 -17 42 4.038 9.7 205.0 14 30.0 -17 31 4.105 8.4 203.0 14 31.2 -17 15 4.171 7.2 200.6 14 32.3 -17 01 4.238 5.8 197.1 14 33.5 -16 43 4.304 4.6 195.5 14 34.3 -16 26 4.371 3.3? 188.5? 14 35.4 -16 08 SOLWIND 5 UT F O R.A. (1950.0) Decl. 1984 July 28.302 6.7 243.4 8 22.4 +18 15 28.309 6.6 243.8 8 22.5 +18 16 28.316 6.4 244.2 8 22.7 +18 18 28.324 6.4 244.9 8 22.7 +18 19 28.331 5.9 246.0 8 23.2 +18 24 28.368 4.8 247.6 8 24.4 +18 32 28.375 4.6 248.3 8 24.6 +18 34 28.383 4.4 249.2 8 24.8 +18 36 28.390 4.2 250.2 8 25.0 +18 38 28.397 3.9 250.8 8 25.3 +18 41 28.435 2.7 258.5 8 26.6 +18 52 28.443 2.7 259.0 8 26.6 +18 52 Computations by the undersigned suggest that SOLWIND 5 is a member of the Kreutz group with T = 1984 July 28.48 ET, Peri. = 62.28, Node = 337.30, Incl. = 139.14 (equinox 1950.0), q = 0.0044 AU. Of all the comets SOLWIND 4 is least likely to belong to the Kreutz group, and the following very hypothetical elements have been derived: T = 1981 Nov. 4.6 ET, Peri. = 97.2, Node = 25.6, Incl. = 113.7, q = 0.008 AU. 1985 November 1 (4129) Brian G. Marsden
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